He was born Vernon Harrison in Rayville, Louisiana, moving to Detroit in 1927. In his adolescence he began performing in local clubs, and went on to work alongside Sonny Boy Williamson, Baby Boy Warren and John Lee Hooker

In the mid 1970s, Red used to play solo piano at the Blind Pig, a small bar in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He recorded his own albums in 1974 and 1977, and toured Europe that same decade Red appeared on BBC Television's Old Grey Whistle Test in May 1973. However most of Red's work was completed within Michigan.